1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications devices and, in particular, to an improved system and method for mobile device activation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cellular telephones are typically shipped from factory or other remote location deactivated. This ensures that the telephones cannot be intercepted en route and used, with the owner's account being charged for the usage. To activate the telephone, the user must typically call a customer service number or press a key on the telephone which connects the telephone to customer service. The customer service center is typically located at a centralized location. The user then provides information such as the telephone serial number and a billing address, and receives a telephone number assigned to the phone. The telephone network then updates its databases with the new information.
However, before the user can use the telephone, he must wait for the database changes to propagate from the customer service center through all the switches in the network, or at least until switch or switches local to the user are updated. As can be appreciated, this can take a considerable period (on the order of several hours), particularly since the updates usually are batched and only periodically sent out throughout the network.
As such, there is a need for an improved system for activating a cellular telephone. There is a further need for an improved method for propagating cellular telephone activation update changes through a cellular telephone network.